Running Home Together
by Oni To Neko
Summary: Lucy didn't want to be carried home like luggage, but Natsu was definitely hiding something. What could it be? NaLu, full of fluff, one-shot


There was a thundering of feet hitting the ground, mixed up with faint swearing and complaining, Fairy Tail's famous fire dragon careened down the streets. The slurs were emitted from his stellar sage teammate's lips, as he held her in a clumsy princess hold, giving her a bumpy ride through the town.

"Natsu! Put me down!" Lucy Heartfilia protested, as she pushed at her partner's cheek, trying to separate them enough for her to leap from his grasp.

"No way! I told you that if we finished the mission, I'd carry you all the way home!" Natsu Dragneel grinned at his blonde friend.

"I never agreed to that bet! I just said it was a stupid mission and I wouldn't waste my energy walking home from it! I was gonna catch a train!" Lucy tugged at Natsu's scarf—maybe if she strangled him, he'd let her go.

"No way! I wouldn't have come with you on a train! I'd get sick!" Natsu argued, seeming to ignore the tightening around his neck.

"You wouldn't have to! You don't have to be about me _all the time_!" Lucy growled, and tugged at the scarf again.

"But I want—" Natsu averted his gaze away from Lucy, raising the blonde's suspicions. "Well, you know." Natsu skidded to a stop. "Look, we're here!"

Lucy loosened her grip on Natsu's scarf and looked in front of ahead of them, suddenly realizing they had arrived back at her apartment. Everything looked the same as they had left it three days ago, all the way down to the locked doorknob.

"Well, good. We're here, so put me down." Lucy ordered, and wriggled a bit, trying to break free.

"No way!" Natsu hollered, "Open the door, Lucy!"

"I'll open it if you put me down! What is with you today?" Lucy tried to crawl away from her dragon friend, but he adjusted his hold of her, and pressed a foot against the middle of her front door.

"Open it or I'll break the door down~" Natsu threatened in his sweetest voice.

"Augh! Okay Okay!" Lucy pulled her keys from her hip and swung her hand out with her front door key, barely catching it in the keyhole, and turning it until she heard it click. "Okay, now put me dow-waaaa!" Just as Lucy started spitting another order at Natsu, he burst through the door and threw Lucy onto her bed.

"Natsu, what are you doi—ahahaha!" Lucy couldn't finish another sentence as Natsu's finger began to tickle her sides.

"This is what you get for calling out mission stupid!" Natsu laughed, and leaned over his partner as she wriggled and giggle beneath him.

"Stop it, Natsu I can't—ahahaha! I can't breathe!" She continued to crack up under his touch. "Okay, fine! But you're not getting away with this!" She stated loudly and reached up and tickled Natsu's usual bare chest. She'd make him regret just wearing his vest today.

The fire dragon couldn't handle her attack and stopped his own onslaught to burst into laughter himself. Lucy kept up her attack until she thought he might start spewing fire out his nostrils, and moved her hands away before he burned down her apartment.

Natsu continued to snicker through heavy breathe, and collapsed next to Lucy on her mattress. The both of them kept wearing wide, toothy grins. Lucy bent her neck a bit and pushed the side of her head up against Natsu's. "You're such an idiot, Natsu." She said with a laugh.

Natsu's eyes flicked over to her. "Yeah, I guess." He laughed.

"But you're my idiot." Lucy smiled.

Natsu's eyes flicked away from Lucy, and then back, and then away again. His cheeks grew a little rosy.

"Hey, Natsu? What were you saying outside? When I said you didn't have to go everywhere with me?" Lucy asked.

Natsu's face turned rosier. He took a deep breath, and sat up on the bed.

"Natsu?" Lucy questioned.

"Lucy, I…" Natsu quickly turned to her and grabbed her shoulders, making the blonde jolt in surprise. "I love you, Lucy!" He shouted, and pursed his lips to kiss her mouth.

Instead he kissed her palms as Lucy blocked her face from the oncoming smooch. "Woah Woah Woah! Wait! What do you mean you _love _me?! Do you even know what you're saying?!" She shouted, her face turning beet red.

Natsu leaned away from her and frowned a bit, avoiding eye contact. He let go of her shoulders and began to mumble, "Well, you know. I wanna be with you forever."

Lucy had to avoid eye contact too—though she knew just glancing away wouldn't hide her pink face. "Don't you want to be with all your friends forever?" She asked. _What makes me so special?_ She added in her subconscious.

"Well, of course." Natsu started, "But, well, you know…" The fire dragon fell back onto the bed, "it's different with you. I want to hold you, and protect you, and comfort you when you're sad. And I wanna do it forever. And I wanna get married and have a bunch of stellar sage dragon slayer babies with you."

Lucy had a hard time believing everything he was saying. Sure, it wasn't a very elegant confession. But elegant would never be a word to describe Natsu. It was pure, and innocent—Like a child who didn't understand his own feelings yet. But he was being honest, and no matter how she looked at it, what he described _did_ sound like love.

"And sometimes," Natsu continued, "When it's just us, I just want to touch you, and kiss you…" He slowly raised the biggest puppy dog eyes up to Lucy and she thought her heart might melt. "But it's okay, if you, you know, don't feel the same."

"Oh, Natsu." Lucy sighed and slid an arm under and around his neck, pulling herself closer to lay a soft kiss on his forehead. She nuzzled noses with him and giggled a bit. "You're such a dork."

Natsu remained in a state of confusion, but of course Lucy loved him. However, Natsu had always been so high strung with excitement, and lacking in the romance department, she just never thought he'd have the time, or mental capacity, to respond to her feelings, or at least not so soon. She figured they'd just remain close friends, and that would have been all right with her too.

But now she had the real thing, right in her grasp.

"Lucy?" Natsu questioned finally. Lucy replied by softly pecking his lips. She felt his face warm up in front of hers. "Stupid." She said, and wrapped her arms around him, "I love you too."

She softly pressed her lips against his again. As she felt Natsu wrap his arms loosely around her back, she deepened the kiss, pushing her tongue past his teeth. She felt him jolt under her, obviously surprised by the advance of what was probably his first real kiss. She turned her chin and caught his tongue with hers, it felt like they might get tangled together as she pushed her hand through his hair.

Natsu broke away from the kiss, and took a deep breath. He must have forgotten the breath. Not too surprising for his first kiss. Lucy rolled her eyes, and snuggled her head under his chin. Natsu hugged onto her, and seemed to giggle gleefully as he nuzzled her head with his nose.

"Hey Natsu." Lucy spoke up.

"Yeah?" He responded.

"I want to be with you forever too."

End

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**Another late night fic, this time based of a chibi artwork of these two by KittyArts on Tumblr. For a moment I thought it was gonna proceed into a lemon without my planning it! OAO Well, this might not remain a one shot. We'll just have to wait and find out.**


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